I. Field of Invention
The invention generally relates to data compression and more particularly to block based compression systems.
II. Description of the Related Art
Transform coding is a common image compression technique that divides an image into sub-images or blocks for processing. Block-based compression introduces artifacts between block boundaries because blocks are independently coded. Therefore, the transform does not take into consideration the correlation between block boundaries. Accordingly, the technique typically results in low bit rate images that are heavily compressed, but contain severe compression artifacts such as blocking, ringing and motion smear.
As a result, several post-processing algorithms for deblocking have been proposed to reduce and/or eliminate compression artifacts. However, many involve complex computations and may result in an overall blurring effect on the output image. Other blocking filters do not conserve edge information effectively and are typically complex to implement in hardware. Accordingly, there is need for a more simple and/or effective deblocking process.